Loki and Thanos have an interesting partnership in the MCU. The origins of their team-up happened off screen, but we saw in The Avengers that the Mad Titan had lent the Asgardian prince both his Chitauri army and the Mind Stone so that he could conquer Midgard, AKA Earth, getting the Space Stone for Thanos in return. Obviously, this didn’t go to plan, and the next time the two came face to face, the antihero stood up to his former boss and was killed for his bravery.
The first episode of Loki has allowed us greater insight into why the God of Mischief entered into this partnership in the first place and how he planned to get out of it. After being captured by the TVA, Agent Mobius interrogates Loki’s psyche. At one point, the trickster says he’s not good at cooperation. “Really?” answers Mobius. “Even when you’re wooing someone powerful you intend to betray?“
Given where in his personal timeline this Loki Variant is from, it’s likely Mobius was referencing Thanos here. Likewise, later on in their conversation, Loki reveals that, if he had his way, he would return to 2012, take over Midgard, conquer the rest of the nine realms and eventually, as Mobius jokes, crown himself “King of Space.” All this heavily implies that Loki always intended to betray Thanos, kill him and no doubt use the Infinity Stones himself.
Of course, in the Sacred Timeline, Loki did attempt to kill Thanos, but in a bid to protect his brother Thor and not for his own personal gain. He was unsuccessful, though, which suggests he would’ve also failed if he had managed to do the same at an earlier point for selfish reasons. But maybe there’s one variant out there in the multiverse who did succeed in beating the Titan and becoming King of Space. That would make for an interesting What If…? episode.
Loki continues next Wednesday on Disney Plus.
